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By D. Scott Fritchen
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia focused on stopping DJ Giddens and the vaunted running attack by No. 17 Kansas State. Avery Johnson, Giddens and the Wildcats reached the end zone anyway.
Johnson threw for a career-high 298 yards and three touchdowns, Giddens rushed for a season-high two scores, and K-State tossed aside the Mountaineers, 45-18, to remain in the thick of things in the Big 12 Conference race.
Bowl-bound K-State, 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the Big 12, is off to its best start of the six-year Chris Klieman era.
The Wildcats scorched West Virginia, 3-4 and 2-2, with their best passing attack this season at a time when the Mountaineers keyed on halting Giddens, who entered the game ranked No. 4 in the FBS in averaging 131.0 rushing yards per game.
Giddens had 19 carries for 57 yards and scored a season-high two touchdowns to go along with a 53-yard catch to help the Wildcats outscore the Mountaineers, 28-8, over the final two quarters at Milan Puskar Stadium.
“We didn’t play great in the first half but had a 17-10 lead and challenged the guys a little bit at halftime to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” Klieman said. “They had a good plan for us in the run game, so we had to throw the football, but we were finally able to crack them a little bit running the football.”
Johnson completed 19-of-29 passes, connecting with nine different pass catchers. He hit with Jadon Jackson for a 60-yard touchdown in the first quarter. He found tight end Garrett Oakley on a seam route for a 16-yard score in the third quarter. Then he found another tight end, Will Anciaux, racing across the end zone for another score moments later.
“I was really pleased with the plan we had for the throwing game,” Klieman said. “We creased them on some things that we thought we could, and Avery was really on point and really calm in the pocket and made some big-time throws.”
K-State, which entered the game ranked eighth in the FBS in averaging 241.0 rushing yards, managed just 114 yards on 26 carries, but the Mountaineers couldn’t keep Giddens out of the end zone. Giddens’ 1-yard run made it 38-10 and his 18-yard run provided the final points by either team.
K-State outgained West Virginia, 412-294. West Virginia had 74 offensive plays and K-State had just 55. The Wildcats entered the game averaging 6.77 yards per play, on pace to become the best by a K-State offense in a season. They averaged 7.50 yards per play against the Mountaineers.
The win gave K-State back-to-back road wins at Colorado and at West Virginia before returning home to face Kansas in the Dillon’s Sunflower Showdown in Manhattan, a 7 p.m. kickoff next Saturday on ESPN2.
“We didn’t get any scheduling favors the last two weeks playing as late as we did in two different time zones, but I’m so proud of the way the guys rallied and didn’t let that bother them,” Klieman said. “They ended up getting two huge road wins in tough environments and found a way.”
K-State scored touchdowns on five of its final eight possessions. West Virginia tossed two interceptions and turned it over on downs four times.
K-State took a 17-10 lead into halftime thanks to a Chris Tennant 44-yard field goal, a 60-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Jackson, and a pick-six by safety Marques Sigle.
K-State broke an early 3-3 tie when Jackson got behind the West Virginia defense on a 60-yard touchdown catch. Lined up as the slot receiver, Jackson tore past defenders and got ahead of safety Anthony Wilson Jr., hauled in the ball at the 20, and raced the rest of the way to the house.
“When I turned around and saw the ball, I was like, ‘Man, Avery is trusting me, I have to make this play,’” said Jackson, who had two catches for 84 yards and one touchdown. “It was a very beautiful pass. Everybody was so focused on DJ that we just caught them off guard.”
Sigle and the blitzing defense added to that score as he dropped back in zone coverage and jumped in front of Hudson Clement to make an athletic interception. Sigle darted 43 yards down the sideline for a pick-six to increase the Wildcats’ lead to 17-3 with 13:14 left in the second quarter.
“We sent a good pressure, and we called out the play, we knew what was coming, and once the play went on, I went on my drop, read the QB’s eyes, and saw the ball,” Sigle said. “Then I made sure No. 4 didn’t catch me.”
West Virginia refused to quit as quarterback Garrett Greene capped a 13-play, 70-yard drive by firing a pass seven yards to Clement into the end zone on third down. The red-zone touchdown was somewhat rare against K-State entered allowing opponents to score a touchdown on just 8-of-18 trips (44.44%) inside the red zone, which ranked 15th in the FBS.
Although West Virginia shrank the lead to 17-10, the Mountaineers could’ve done more damage just before halftime. However, K-State stiffened despite Greene driving the Mountaineers 89 yards on 12 plays. Facing fourth-and-2 at the K-State 4-yard line, Green saw his pass fly incomplete to tight end Kole Taylor just before the teams went to the locker room.
K-State opened the third quarter with a big score keyed by an 11-yard catch by wide receiver Ty Bowman on fourth-and-5 in West Virginia territory. Johnson finished the 11-play, 74-yard drive by finding Oakley in stride on a 16-yard scoring strike.
The Wildcats led 24-10 — but only for a few minutes. That’s because Giddens caught a pass at the West Virginia 45 and ran downfield until Anthony Wilson tackled him at the 1-yard line for a 53-yard gain. Three plays later, Anciaux caught his second-career touchdown to build a 31-10 lead.
Giddens’ 1-yard touchdown run made it 38-10 with 12:09 left in the fourth quarter.
The celebration was on as the Wildcats captured another important road victory.
“It’s hard to win in the Big 12, especially on the road, but if you want to be a dominant team, you have to win on the road,” Jackson said. “That was our mindset going in and coming out.”
